chapter 28 #2
Julian got up, too. Cliff was a significantly taller man, but Julian wasn’t afraid of him.
He’d been so angry and on edge since his diagnosis, he was eager to have a target—one with whom he felt justified in totally letting loose.
“Not only do I get to tell you that, I’m the one who’s going to show you out. ”
“Julian, I’ve got this,” Charlotte said, growing concerned, but Cliff spoke at the same time.
“Like hell! It’s because you couldn’t keep your filthy hands off my wife that I had to fly halfway across the world to save
my marriage!”
Julian kept his voice down. He didn’t want to upset Lilly. “A wasted trip, Cliff,” he bit out. “Your marriage is over.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Cliff started to come around the table, and Julian was ready for him, but Charlotte jumped
up to intervene.
“Stop it—both of you! I was going to let you eat breakfast first,” she said to Cliff. “But if we have to do this now, I guess
we have to do it now.”
“We have to do it now,” Cliff echoed. “Tell him you love me. Tell him we’re going to put our marriage back together. Tell
him to get lost.”
“I’m not going to do that,” she said. “Because Jules is right. I’m not coming back to you.”
“Why?” he shouted. “I told you Lilly could come live with us. Lord knows we have a big enough house, right? We have the money, too.
Think of everything you’ll be able to provide for her.”
“I’ll take care of Lilly just fine on my own,” she said. “I’m finished, Cliff. I don’t love you anymore. I want to be with
Julian.”
Stunned, Cliff gaped at her. That declaration, and the resolution in her voice, had shocked him.
Julian looked shocked, too. He’d been fooling himself, he realized, trying to believe Charlotte wasn’t counting on too much from him.
And now, in this moment, he couldn’t avoid the truth.
He’d fallen in love with her just like he’d been afraid he would. And she’d fallen in love with him.
But if he really loved her, he couldn’t foist what was in his future onto her. That would make him even worse than Cliff!
Cliff looked between them. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll leave. But I’ll bet you a million bucks you call me back tomorrow,” he said
and snatched his bag before shouldering past Julian.
Seeing him go worked like a cup of cold water in Julian’s face. What had he just done? “Whoa, wait.” He started to follow
as the gate clanged shut, but Cliff didn’t turn around.
Julian looked blankly at Charlotte. “I think . . . I think he and I both need to leave.”
Charlotte blinked at him. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me.”
“Stop it!” Charlotte said. “I know, okay? I know about the Parkinson’s!”
He wanted to ask her how, and why she would still be getting involved with him if she knew, but he couldn’t bear the answers.
“Then you don’t know what you’re doing,” he said simply and quickly packed his things before pushing past all three women
when he left.
Ten minutes later, Sloane sat on the deck with Charlotte—Lilly was on Charlotte’s other side—trying to console her. “Give
him some time, Char. He’ll come around.” She was talking about her brother, but she wasn’t entirely convinced what she said
was true. Julian was the most stubborn individual she’d ever known, especially when he believed he was in the right. The fact
that they knew about his diagnosis when he hadn’t thought they did only seemed to galvanize him.
Charlotte had been staring out to sea almost since he left.
When Sloane spoke, she wiped the tears from her face but said nothing in reply.
She’d tried to convince Jules to stay—they all had—but he kept saying there was no way he’d ever allow her to throw her life away on him.
And since he’d already called an Uber, they couldn’t stop him from leaving.
After shaking them both off, he’d waved goodbye to Lilly, who’d been standing in the background crying by that time, too,
and drove away.
Now it was quiet.
“You’re going to be okay,” Sloane murmured.
Charlotte sniffed as she gazed down at her phone, which was lying in her lap. “Julian’s not answering my calls or texts.”
“It’s too soon.” Somewhere on the street below, a scooter coughed to life. “He just found out that we know about his diagnosis,”
she said.
“He shouldn’t have tried to keep it from us,” she grumbled.
Sloane had to agree, and yet she could understand why he would. “It makes him feel like he’s been robbed, that he’s no longer
the man he once was. No one wants to feel like they’re damaged goods—bound to be a burden on all who love them.”
“So he keeps shoving us away?”
“I’ll talk to him. I’m his sister. He can’t shove me away, and he knows it.”
“He can’t shove me away, either,” Charlotte said defiantly. But then she added a much weaker “I hope.”
Lilly threaded her fingers through Charlotte’s. “Don’t cry. No matter what happens, you’ve got me.” She sent Sloane an apologetic
glance before adding, “I love Sloane, and I love Steve and Old Blue. But you’re my sister, and families should stick together.”
It was such a sweet sentiment that Sloane couldn’t even be sad about her choice.
She’d known it would probably go that way—that if she’d changed her mind and wanted a child, she should have one.
Now that Lilly had shown her that she might like to be a mother, she wasn’t nearly as frightened of the responsibility and the changes it would require.
“I agree,” she told Lilly. “You two should stick together. But I hope you know that you’re always welcome to visit me. ”
A smile appeared on Lilly’s face as she nodded. “I’d like that.”
“Steve might be disappointed when he learns that he’s going to miss out, too,” Sloane teased.
“I’ve already told him,” Lilly responded.
This pulled Charlotte out of her misery. “You have?”
“I texted him late last night when I made my decision,” she explained.
“What’d he say?”
“He said that you’re a wonderful person, and he thinks I’m making the right choice. And he invited me to come visit.”
Finally, Charlotte seemed to recover some of her composure. Her hand curled more tightly around Lilly’s, and her voice went
husky as she said, “I’m glad you chose me.”
Seeing the pleasure of Charlotte’s response register on Lilly’s face made the future even easier for Sloane to accept.
“Don’t worry,” Lilly said to Charlotte. “We’ll get Jules back—once he realizes he’s meant to be part of our family.”
Charlotte brought Lilly’s hand up and kissed her knuckles. “Love wins,” she said, sniffing through a laugh. “We’ll wear him
down.”